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History
Giorgio Lalov, Artistic Director
History and Highlights of
10 Seasons of American
Tour Reviews
Teatro Lirico D’Europa was created in
1988 by the late Yves Josse, a former ballet divo and brilliant
French arts promoter, and Giorgio Lalov, a young Bulgarian opera
singer who made his debut at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, at the
age of 25 while participating in Scala’s famous international
training program for young singers. The collaboration between
Josse and Lalov was a huge success in a very short time, resulting
in tours with over 250 performances a season throughout France,
Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal.
Lalov created the sets and costumes for the productions and organized
the chorus and orchestra in Bulgaria. He drew soloists for the
productions from a huge reservoir of operatic talent in Bulgaria,
central Europe and the United States. Josse booked the performances for
the company from his office in Paris. From the very beginning,
the company established itself as highly competent in delivering
traditional, full-scale productions featuring a large orchestra
and chorus, and mature opera singers. The unusual chemistry of
the company proved to be very popular with European audiences.
Teatro Lirico D’Europa had completed over 2000 performances
worldwide at the time of Josse’s passing in 1995. The death
of Josse was a great loss. He was a gifted person who could never
be replaced. His talent could never be duplicated.
But 1995 marked a new
beginning for Teatro Lirico D’Europa
with the birth of Lalov’s American son Christian. Lalov
shifted his focus from touring in Europe, to touring in the United States,
where he now lives with his wife, former opera singer and creator
of International Classic Artists Mgmt., (now JENNY KELLY PRODUCTIONS)
Jenny L. Kelly.
Teatro Lirico D'Europa had developed a firm
history of success with a portfolio of hundreds of rave reviews
for full-scale opera productions that had been presented all
over Europe, in theaters and at important international festivals,
as well as a collection of outstanding live CD recordings. Lalov's
wife, Jenny Kelly, organized the materials and began to make
offers to theaters in the United States. By winter 2000, she had booked
the first major American tour for the company. The response to
the debut tour from both press and theater management was very
positive indeed. The February 2002 issue of OPERA NEWS presented
a four-page article on Teatro Lirico D'Europa written by former
BOSTON GLOBE opera critic Richard Dyer that stated:
"In the past couple of years the company has presented TURANDOT, AIDA and NABUCCO in Boston. The physical productions and Lalov's stagings were reassuringly traditional. Lalov's stagings tell the story clearly. The solo and ensemble singing in all three operas was lusty, whole hearted-full throated and honest. Something personal and passionate that is often missing from evenings of opera."
OPERA NEWS - Richard Dyer – Feb. 2002
Teatro Lirico D'Europa embarks on its 11th consecutive
season of U.S. tours in Fall 2009 - Winter/Spring 2010 with performances
of six different full-scale operas: Rossini’s IL BARBIERE
DI SIVIGLIA, Mozart’s DON GIOVANNI and LE NOZZE DI FIGARO,
Verdi’s RIGOLETTO and LA TRAVIATA, Lehar’s DIE
FLEDERMAUS and Puccini’s LA BOHEME. There will be many
new soloists on the tour as well as many of the soloists that
Teatro’s audiences have come to love and look forward
to.
About GIORGIO LALOV, co-founder of Teatro Lirico D'Europa and current general manager/artistic director
Gueorgui Lalov (Giorgio)
was born in Telesh, Bulgaria, in 1958. His father Lalo, a doctor,
and his mother, Stoyanka Kostadinova, an elementary school
teacher and Bulgarian folk singer, were educated patrons of
the arts. Although his father died when he was just nine years
old, Giorgio was accepted at an elite boarding school in the
capital city of Bulgaria, where all the lessons were taught
in French. When he graduated from high school in 1976, he was
fluent in French and English.That fall he entered the Bulgarian
National Academy of Music and went on tour in Italy with a
choir from the University. While in Milan, he auditioned for
and was accepted at the International School for Young Opera
Singers at La Scala where he went on to make his debut at the
age of 25. After living in Italy for a short time, Lalov, became
fluent in Italian.
In 1986, while on tour with a small opera
company in France, Lalov met his future business partner, Yves
Josse, a former ballet divo who was booking opera and ballet
tours. Giorgio had many resources. He spoke several languages,
could organize the creation of sets and costumes in Bulgaria
and could put together an excellent orchestra and chorus. He
knew many fine opera singers in Bulgaria, central Europe, and
the United States. By 1988 Josse and Lalov were collaborating on what
was to become the most successful opera touring company in
Europe. At the time of Josse's death in 1995, Teatro Lirico
was performing over 250 shows a season throughout eight different
countries in central Europe. Winter 2000 marked Teatro Lirico’s
first major American tour. The rest is history. The reviews from
the American tours completed thus far speak for the quality and
consistency of the company that has now completed ten major U.S.
tours that include performances at 103 different venues,
"I'm not alone in hoping that Giorgio Lalov, the talented singer turned creator of Teatro Lirico D'Europa stays well, healthy and continues to bring us such magnificent productions. We can only hope to see more from this company in years to come." ILLINOIS TIMES - Ann Kerr
Photos of all of the reviewed productions
can be found at our Web site: www.jennykellyproductions.com as
well as live video clip highlights from most of
the productions
The exclusive U.S. booking agent for
Teatro Lirico D’Europa is JENNY L. KELLY
WORLD CLASSICAL PERFORMING ARTS SOCIETY, INC.
723 Weil Mandel Way
Cockeysville, MD 21030
Ph: 410-419-4344
JennyLalov@aol.com/jkproductions@comcast.net
World Classical Performing Arts Society (formerly
Jenny Kelly Productions) was created by Jenny L. Kelly, a native
of Baltimore, Maryland, and former opera singer who completed training
and degrees in vocal performance and opera at the Peabody Preparatory
of Baltimore, the Westminster Choir College of Princeton, New Jersey, the
Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, and Philadelphia’s
Academy of Vocal Arts. Ms. Kelly was a top prizewinner in many national
and international opera competitions, including the Belvedere International
Opera Competition in Vienna, Austria, the Palm Beach Opera Competition,
the Baltimore National Opera Competition, and the Luciano Pavarotti
International Opera Competition. Ms. Kelly was also the winner
of numerous scholarship awards from the Metropolitan Opera National
Council Auditions and the Miss America Scholarship Pageant Foundation.
After completing over 300 performances of major roles in operas
throughout Europe and the United States, Ms. Kelly married Bulgarian opera
impresario Giorgio Lalov in August 1993. After the birth of their
son in 1995, she created the American agency and has since that
time booked:
- Eleven consecutive seasons of major American
tours for Teatro
Lirico D'Europa, the popular European opera touring
company that has completed over 3,000 performances worldwide
including over 400 performances inside the United States;
- Seven consecutive seasons of U.S. tours
for Mozart
Festival Opera, the sister company of Teatro Lirico
D’Europa, that made its U.S. debut in fall 2003;
- Two seasons of U.S. tours for Czech
Opera Prague (fall
2005/winter 2006 and fall 2007/winter 2008);
- Four U.S. tours for The Russian
National Ballet Theatre and Orchestra (spring 2005,
spring 2007 and spring 2008). This Company began touring as Moiseev
Russian Classical Ballet beginning spring 2008;
- The U.S. debut tour of Bulgaria’s Ballet
Arabesk performing
CARMINA BURANA/BOLERO with full live orchestra and chorus (season
2005-2006);
and
- Jenny Kelly
has never had to
cancel any tour or
any performance on
any tour that she
has booked in 10
consecutive seasons
of U.S. tours!
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